ELIZABETH CITY, NC- Beatriz (Bia) Neto and Andrea Nevola, a junior and a sophomore on the Vikings' tennis team, share their experiences as international students as it pertains to their personal and athletic growth and adapting to the ECSU community.
 
Both Neto and Nevola left their countries, Portugal and Venezuela respectively, to continue their tennis careers and pursue higher education.
 
Their love for tennis started many years before ECSU.
 
Neto began playing tennis at 5 years old and has not stopped ever since. She began to play competitively at age 11. Her hard work on the tennis court paid off when she had the privilege of competing in her first international competition when she was just 14.
 
Since that initial competition, she has won over 40 tournaments, including those on the national level for prize money. She had the opportunity to play all the way to the ITF Women's Circuit Tournaments, a global professional level competition.
 
Nevola also started to play tennis when she was 5 years old. She started to compete in junior level competitions around Venezuela at 9. Her first great success in tennis occurred when she was 12 years old. After winning the most important tournaments in the country, she was ranked the  #3 throughout the entire country.
 
After winning various tournaments and competitions in Venezuela, Nevola began travelling around the world to compete and train with athletes in other countries such as Ecuador and the United States.
 
Neto and Nevola expanded their horizons and came to the United States at 18 and 17.
 
They learned about the athletic and academic opportunities offered by ECSU through former Head Coach, Richard Harfst.
 
While coming to play tennis and getting an education from ECSU was exciting for Neto and Nevola, there were some adjustments that had to be made to comfortably transition from being in their home countries to living in North Carolina.
 
Neto says that her biggest adjustment was changing the way she ate and the kinds of food she ate.
 
"I had to get used to the American way of eating because, during my first year, I was eating on campus and the options we had were far from similar to what we have in Portugal," shared Neto.
 
Even after cooking for herself, Neto still had to adjust her diet because the food she was accustomed to in Portugal was not sold in American grocery stores.
 
Nevola claimed that her biggest adjustments were learning to speak English and getting used to the weather in Elizabeth City since she comes from tropical weather.
 
She shared that having to learn a new language caused her to become more independent.
 
Neto and Nevola did not let the fact that they are not natives of this country stop them from wanting to make an impact on the ECSU community by giving advice to other international students and sharing the best places to visit in their home countries.
 
Neto has a rich cultural background as she speaks 4 different languages. She says that her international experience has "made other students excited about travelling and exploring other countries and cultures."
 
Nevola believes that she can bring the ECSU campus a taste of the Spanish culture and expose them to the parts of her culture that would not otherwise be known.
 
Both Neto and Nevola offered up advice for other ECSU international students in hopes of helping their transition to a new culture go smoothly, but for them to fall in love with ECSU the way that they did.
 
The two of them both suggest being open minded and willing to take on new adventures and experiences, even if it is a little uncomfortable at first.
 
Nevola's best advice for other international students is to "Take every day slow and try to talk with students on campus who actually do not know your language so you can remove the nerves and start making connections. Making connections is very important so you can learn their culture and show them yours. Be ready to learn!"
 
In the same ways that Neto and Nevola have embraced American culture with open arms, they encourage others to embrace theirs by giving travel tips for anyone interested in visiting Portugal or Venezuela.
 
"Wine and party lovers need to visit Porto. For those who culture and architecture is the main thing, they need to go to Lisbon, the capital. For beach vacations, the Algarve is the best and for surfers, I suggest Espinho and Nazaré," shared Neto about Portugal.
 
If interested in visiting Venezuela, Nevola suggests, "Angel Falls. It is the highest waterfall around the world, and it is considered the seventh natural wonder of the world."
 
Neto and Nevola shared their favorite parts about their countries as well.
 
Neto loves the food and the beaches of Portugal. There is a great variety in the food and it is high quality. In addition to the food, she loves the beaches because that is where she spends a significant amount of time surfing and enjoying the weather.
 
Nevola's favorite parts of Venezuela are Christmas and Spring Break because she has the opportunity to spend time with her family for Christmas and go to the beach in Cata, Aragua, Venezuela with friends and family during Spring Break.
 
Though they both miss their friends, family, and culture from home, both Neto and Nevola value the experiences they have gained by being a part of the tennis team and the ECSU community as a whole.
 
Nevola shared that she has made great friends out of her teammates. She is also appreciative of the fact that she can pursue a degree while continuing to do the thing that she loves most; playing tennis.
 
She claims that joining the team "has helped [her] to be distracted sometimes from classes because it is the place where [she] feels [she is] not worried about anything and where [she] can truly express [her]self."
 
Neto relayed the same sentiment as Nevola. She is happy that she is able to continue playing tennis while also having the ability to get a degree.
 
She says that the team has "helped [her] maintain [her] competition, have good time management, be responsible, and stay active while in college."
 
We are grateful that Neto and Nevalo have been touched by their experiences at ECSU as we have felt honored that they have made many sacrifices to be a part of the Viking community.